Phil Alagia

Essex County Democratic Chairman Philip Thigpen is getting ready to run for office: he says he expected to become his party's candidate for Register of Deeds and Mortgages.  The organization supported Newark Central Ward Democratic Chairman Dwight Brown for Register in the June primary after incumbent Carole Graves declined to seek re-election.  But Brown died unexpectedly over the summer, leaving Democrats without a candidate to face Republican Terriann Moore Abrams, a former South Orange Village Trustee.

The post has a $91,650 annual salary and is a five-year term.

Essex and Hudson are the last counties to have an elected Register of Deeds and Mortgages.  In the other nineteen counties, the County Clerk performs their duties.  Camden eliminated the position after Republican Susan Rose won the post in 1990.  Union got rid of the post in 1995 when the incumbent, Joanne Rajoppi, ran for County Clerk. 

Four years after Democrat Gerard DeStefano ousted longtime GOP Passaic County Register Frank Sylvester in 1996, the Republican-controlled Legislature eliminated his job.  They did it with the ultimate political cover: Passaic voters had passed a non-binding referendum urging the post be absorbed into the Office of the County Clerk (then held by Republican Ronnie Nochimson).

The Hudson County Register is Willie Flood, who is also a Jersey City Councilwoman.

Thigpen, a former Freeholder and fixture in local politics since the 1960's, would be under no obligation to give up his chairmanship.  Eight other County Chairs are elected officials.

But some Democrats say Thigpen might give up the party post.  Phil Alagia, the Chief of Staff to Essex County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo and the political director of Gov. Jon Corzine's re-election campaign, is a potential candidate for Essex County Democratic Chairman.

Alagia says he supports Thigpen.

"There is no one in Essex County who can do a better job of moving the Essex County Democratic Party forward then Chairman Thigpen," Alagia told PolitickerNJ.com.  It is my understanding that he will stay as chairman and he has my support 100 percent. 

Gov. Jon Corzine with Irvington Mayor Wayne Smith, left, and Team Irvington founder Freeholder/Councilman D. Bilal Beasley.

IRVINGTON - Gov. Jon Corzine's informal endorsement tonight of Mayor Wayne Smith when the two walked on Springfield Avenue came shortly after Smith heartily endorsed the incumbent governor on the steps of City Hall as someone who understands the plight of this Essex County town of perennial hard knocks.

The knock on Smith usually comes in the form of a whisper.

"We've been together from the beginning," the governor said of the mayor, who for almost two years has heard the murmurs when he walks past - "Keith Reid named him in court as Irvington Official #1," and inevitably fielded reporters' repeated phone calls asking him if he plans to resign.

If not today, what about tomorrow?

"What you learn in this business is a public official can be accused of anything," Smith told PolitickerNJ.com. "You live with these things and you live through them. I haven't heard anything from the U.S. Attorney's Office, but more importantly, I didn't do anything wrong."

Gov. Jon Corzine meets up with state Sen. Loretta Weinberg (D-Teaneck) in erona.

VERONA - Selling his record on healthcare today with the latest poll showing him trailing his opponent by nine points in a head-to-head, Gov. Jon Corzine said back chatter about a ham-handed reelection campaign encumbered by too many chiefs is a "non-story."   

"Maggie Moran and Tom Shea are running the campaign," said the governor, where he appeared at a park in Verona with lieutenant governor candidate Loretta Weinberg.

Corzine has brought in former Bergen County Democratic Organization (BCDO) spokesman Bill Maer and Democratic Party strategist Jamie Fox, but the governor insisted the upper eschelon hierarchy of the campaign remains unchanged.

State Senate candidate At-Large Councilman Luis Quintana (center, with microphone) stumps for his ally, Assemblyman Wilfredo Caraballo, in 2007.

If Hudson Democrats have chewed up most of the headlines lately, Essex County Dems are trying to gut through their own troubles, as sources say investigators with the state Attorney General's Office today continued their probe of absentee ballot fraud in connection with the 2007 race of state Sen. Teresa Ruiz (D-Newark).

The unrest cuts at the heart of Newark's most reliable Democratic Party GOTV operation: the North Ward.  

Sources say investigators conducted a search at the offices of Carmine Casciano, commissioner for voter registration in Essex County, part of a comb-through they've undertaken in there for weeks.

Four people have already been charged with ballot fraud as a result of a complaint filed by state Senate candidate Luis Quintana, the at-large councilman, who was crushed by Ruiz in their 2007 contest.

Despite the backdrop of bad news for Essex Democrats who are already looking at depleted machinery in neighboring Hudson, North Ward Democratic Party political operative Phil Alagia, who ran Ruiz's campaign, is set to begin his job as political director for the Corzine '09 campaign on Monday.

Phil Alagia

Attempting to dial back some early worry over rookie politician/TV star Randal Pinkett, Corzine Campaign Political Director Phil Alagia praised the prospective candidate for lieutenant governor as a smart and likable public figure and an excellent communicator.

"There are a lot of excellent choices out there," said the veteran 41-year old political operative, who serves as chief of staff to Essex County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo. "I think Randal's a great guy and I would be excited and honored to campaign with him."

According to sources, Pinkett's at the top of a Corzine short list that includes state Sen. Barbara Buono (D-Metuchen) and state Sen. Loretta Weinberg (D-Teaneck).

Alagia first met Pinkett at the home of Secretary of State Nina Mitchell Wells just before Jon Corzine's first campaign for governor.

Essex County Executive Joe DiVincenzo

NUTLEY – Notwithstanding his soulful exchange of professional and platonic respect with Chris Christie hours after Christie stepped down as U.S. Attorney late last year, Essex County Executive Joe DiVincenzo says when it comes to statewide politics, he’s only focused on helping to reelect Gov. Jon Corzine and doesn’t anticipate getting a call to serve as Corzine’s running mate.

“I would always leave all doors open but my efforts are focused on getting the top of the Democratic ticket elected; we can’t lose that top person,” said DiVincenzo, now serving his second term in office and gearing up for a third term run next year. 

To this year’s end of aiding the governor, DiVincenzo will soon formally dispatch his chief of staff, Phil Alagia, to head up Corzine’s statewide political operations. 

The Governor in Essex on Wednesday evening.

WEST ORANGE – The Governor of New Jersey usually doesn’t wait long to address a collective of his own party, but this being Essex in a gubernatorial election year, the governor stayed on ice during a drum roll ceremony that was as much a buildup of Essex as it was a buildup to Gov. Jon Corzine.

Corzine didn’t appear to mind – and with reason.

“Barack Obama won nearly 250,000 votes in Essex last year,” the governor roared when he finally took the microphone. “If you give me 250,000 votes, this election’s signed, sealed and delivered” – a reference to the Stevie Wonder anthem a deejay played to introduce Corzine, subliminally strengthening the governor’s linkage to Obama, who  favored the song last year on the campaign trail.

The all-day buzz was that this Essex County Democratic Convention would present the unmistakable photo op of former Gov./Senate President Richard Codey (D-West Orange) and Corzine onstage together, arms raised in a ceremonial show of solidarity as the blockbuster credits rolled. 

Phil Alagia, the Chief of Staff to Essex County Executive Joe DiVincenzo, will be the new Political Director of Gov. Jon Corzine's re-election campaign.

Phil Alagia, one of the state's top political operatives and the Chief of Staff to Essex County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo, will be joining Gov. Jon Corzine's campaign staff as Political Director.  Alagia is considered a protégé of Newark political leader Stephen Adubato, Sr., and his appointment is likely to suspend speculation that Adubato will back Republican Christopher Christie for Governor.  Alagia's new position in Corzine's inner circle could also enhance DiVincenzo's consideration as a candidate for Lieutenant Governor.

At-Large Councilman Peter Cammarano, left, and Assemblyman Reed Gusciora (D-Princeton)

SOMERSET – The influx of federal stimulus money dominated much of the conversation here Saturday night at the Garden State Equality dinner, with some Democrats privately terrified by the prospect of misspent money ballooning into a crippling headline just in time for the gubernatorial election.

As there are just two gubernatorial contests nationwide this year, New Jersey becomes the de facto frontline for President Barack Obama’s stimulus plan, and what most anticipate will be a Meadowlands charm offense by the president on the eve of the election could boomerang badly for Democrats if they mismanage the historic infusion of cash. 

After meeting a week ago with Obama, who told governors to pay particular attention to ensuring stimulus transparency, Gov. Jon Corzine said New Jersey would receive $17.5 billion from the  federal aid package, or $7.5 billion in tax benefits, and $10 billion for Medicaid, and investments in highways, roads, bridges, mass transit, and healthcare information technology.